Community Corner

Milton, Alpharetta Among Georgia's Safest Cities

Safewise has released its list for 2018, and a northwest Georgia town has knocked a north Fulton city out of first place.

ALPHARETTA-MILTON, GA — A company dedicated to comparing home security systems has released its 2018 list of safest cities across Georgia, and North Fulton County is getting national praise for its ability to provide an exceptional level of comfort to its residents.

Safewise has recognized five North Fulton cities among the safest in the Peach State for 2018. Milton comes in second while Alpharetta ranks sixth on the list, which was released on Tuesday, Jan. 29. Milton's ranking didn't change for 2017, while Alpharetta clocked in at 18 on last year's list.

To come up with its rankings, Safewise reviewed the 2016 FBI crime report data (the latest available) and the population. Cities that are below identified population thresholds or did not submit a complete crime report to the FBI were excluded from consideration.

Find out what's happening in Alpharetta-Miltonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

The evaluation is based on the number of reported violent crimes — aggravated assault, murder, rape and robbery — in each city. Safewise states that if there was a tie, it also took into account the number of property crimes such as burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. To level the playing field, it also calculated the rate of crimes per 1,000 people in each city.

"This makes it easier to directly compare the likelihood of these crimes occurring in cities with vastly different populations," Safewise says of its methodology, which can be reviewed in detail here.

Find out what's happening in Alpharetta-Miltonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Cities in the top 10 are:

  1. Summerville
  2. Milton
  3. Johns Creek
  4. Senoia
  5. Peachtree City
  6. Alpharetta
  7. Tyrone
  8. Dallas
  9. Flowery Branch
  10. Grovetown

According to Safewise, while the Peach State is afflicted with "higher-than-average rates of violent crimes," the 50 cities on the list have at least 40 percent fewer violent crimes than the national average. The top three safest cities have more than 90 percent fewer crimes than the national average. Additionally, the company notes there were no homicides in 2017 in 36 of 50 cities.

Other metro Atlanta cities on the list include Woodstock at 11, Loganville at 12, Holly Springs at 13, Suwanee at 14, Sandy Springs at 15, Cumming at 19, Roswell at 25, Dunwoody at 28, Decatur at 33, Acworth at 34, Kennesaw at 35, Adairsville at 42 and Canton at 43.

You can view the full list by clicking here. Tell us: what do you think of the list?

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)


Image via city of Milton

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

More from Alpharetta-Milton